Operation Bright Star

Operation Bright Star is held every two years. It is a series of combined and joint training exercises led by American and Egyptian forces in Egypt. These exercises began in 1980, rooted in the Camp David Accords. After its signing, the military forces of Egypt and the United States agreed to conduct coalition training in Egypt.

The exercise begins with coalition interoperability training to teach nations how to operate with one another in a wartime environment, then continues with a Command Post Exercise designed to help standardize command and control procedures, and then a large-scale Field Training Exercise to practice everything together.

A Somali soldier poses for a photograph during the multinational joint service Exercise Bright Star '85.

The first exercise was conducted from September to December in 1980. U.S. Army units (Task Force "Strike", 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment) of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and U.S. Air Force personnel were deployed in Egypt for the exercise. The following year, a similar exercise was held using the same ground rules. USS Coral Sea took part in 1982.

By 1983, the size of the forces involved prompted planners to hold the event every two years rather than annually. The exercise went under further evolution in 1985 with the inclusion of the American and Egyptian Air Forces. The two nations' respective navies and special forces joined the exercise in 1987.

The Associated Press, in a story dated August 4, 1985, said that U.S. forces would begin their largest exercise in the Middle East ever that day. Egypt, Somalia, Jordan, and Oman were reported as participating.[1]

Egypt's Information Ministry confirmed that Bright Star began in Egypt on schedule with activation of command centers and some movement of troops into maneuver areas. A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said about 9,000 Americans would take part in the weeklong Egyptian phase, the main part of the exercise. The spokesman said an unspecified smaller number of American soldiers would take part in Somalia and about 520 would join in the Jordanian portion. Pentagon sources in Washington said a smaller number of Americans would also train in Oman ..

After the 1989 event, the exercise was moved from the summer to the fall. The Bright Star exercises are named after the fiscal year during which they occur; consequently, they take place in the calendar year before their number would indicate. For example, Bright Star 95 actually took place in the fall of 1994.

During the 1997 exercise, the U.S. Air Force encountered a fuel shortage. Their Egyptian counterparts demonstrated an ability to blend Jet A-1 fuel with additives to produce the JP-8 required by U.S. aircraft.

The exercise scenario involved a fictional hostile nation named "Orangeland" invading Egypt and trying to take control of the Nile River. The exercise coalition worked together, practicing fighting in the air, land, and sea domains, to defend the Nile and expel Orangeland.

A key piece of the training was a six-nation amphibious assault led by the Royal Navy.

Bright Star 10 took place in October 2009 which included a strategic airborne jump of more than 300 Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division partnering with Egyptian, German, Kuwaiti, and Pakistani paratroopers, while more than 1,000 Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit rolled onto El Alamein Beach by amphibious landing with their Bright Star counterparts.[3]

Also more non-traditional training took place during the operation and included a combined computer aided command post exercise introducing partnering soldiers to each other's equipment and updated tactics, thereby developing a better coalition contingency environment.[3]

Bright Star 14 which should have taken place in September 2013 was cancelled by U.S president Barack Obama after Egyptian police raided two large encampments by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo to forcibly disperse them, after six weeks of unauthorized sit-in[4]